Believe the Hype

Believe the Hype is an American Halo team. Its most prominent lineups included Nick "MaNiaC" Kershner and Scott "Cloud" Holste.

Biography

Halo 2

Believe the Hype was formed during the 2007 MLG season by three members of a squad called Rainbow Riders - Scott "Cloud" Holste, Jacob "Hysteria" Reiser and "Rudy", with the addition of "FrozeInShock" from team Minority. The team took 18th place at its first event - MLG Dallas. For the following event in Chicago, BtH replaced Rudy with "B RizZzLe" and improved on their Dallas placing, taking 14th. Despite the improvement, Cloud and Hysteria revamped the roster for Orlando, replacing Froze and B RizZzLe with Eli "Eli" Hensley and Joseph "Joe" Dentici. They repeated at 14th place in Orlando. Going into the Las Vegas National Championships, BtH replaced Eli with Cody "Perplexity" Jacobson and took their highest placing yet - 11th.

Halo 3

With Hysteria leaving to join Triggers Down, Cloud kept the BtH name alive going into the inaugural Halo 3 season. Recruiting Richie "Heinz" Heinz, Dan "NeXuS" Verhoff and Jared "MudVayne" Keenan for MLG Meadowlands 2008, Cloud lead BtH to a 9th place finish, eventually falling to Hysteria and Triggers Down in the Losers Bracket match for top 8. For the next event in San Diego, BtH replaced MudVayne with "SsSilent" from Ambush. This lineup made MLG history, when in Winners Round 3, they not only defeated Final Boss earlier than they had ever lost, but they swept them, the first time this had ever happened to the formerly dominant team. Their luck would not bode so well against Str8 Rippin in the Winners Finals, who defeated them 3-0, or against Carbon in their first Losers match, who defeated them 3-2. They ended up placing 6th, and the scene was now on notice. Unfortunately, an encore performance at MLG Orlando was out of the picture, as Heinz and NeXuS left BtH to join Ambush after San Diego. Cloud and SsSilent recruited Matthew "GuN_ShoT" and a returning Eli in their place. They took 9th place in Orlando, falling to Fatal Images in Losers'. After Orlando, Cloud would disband BtH as he joined Ambush alongside former teammates NeXuS and Heinz, with SsSilent joining Chilled Reality and GuN ShoT and Eli joining Antigravity.

Cloud, now with a National Championship placing under his belt, revived the Believe the Hype name at the start of the 2009 season, recruiting Wes "Clutch" Price, Daniel "DEMON D" Yakovleff and Patrick "Sypher" Hynes. The new roster went on a tear at MLG Meadowlands, taking out Classic, Triggers Down and Str8 Rippin en route to their first Winners Finals, where they were defeated by Instinct. In the Losers Finals, they met Triggers Down in a rematch, up 3-1 in the series. Triggers Down made a dramatic comeback, ultimately winning 6-4 and going on to win the event, with BtH placing 3rd. Unable to get optimal practice with the Canadian Sypher, BtH decided to drop him and pick up the newly available Dmitry "KGB Soviet" Gulyan. Faced with the task of playing Instinct in the second round at MLG Columbus, BtH were again defeated by the powerful team, and had a tough Losers Bracket run ahead of them if they wanted to repeat their Meadowlands placing. They performed admirably, defeating Dynasty and Carbon, but were unable to get past Final Boss and settled for 6th place. BtH then released Clutch with the intention of bringing back Sypher, but Sypher was unable to attend MLG Dallas, so they were forced to settle for Nick "MaNiaC" Kershner, a player with limited experience in the top 8. BtH lost a close 3-2 series to Str8 Rippin in Winners Round 2, and were upset in a 3-2 loss to Under the Influence in their first Losers match, ending with a disappointing 9th place finish. Clutch was brought back after Dallas, replacing Soviet, and BtH went into Anaheim with the roster they would close the season out with. Things started off rough, with a first round loss to Dynasty. They made a Losers run, defeating Status Quo and (for the first time) Instinct in a continuation series from their Placement Bracket match, which Instinct had won. They then faced Dynasty in another continuation series, and were unable to make up the deficit, losing 6-3 and taking a 5th place finish. At the Orlando National Championships, BtH started off strong, defeating Final Boss, Instinct and Str8 Rippin in close 3-2 matches, before defeating Classic 3-1 to secure a spot in the Grand Finals. Their Finals opponents would be Classic, who they defeated 6-2 in the continuation series to win their first event and take the $100,000 National Championship prize.

Cloud left BtH during the 2009-10 offseason to join Instinct, leaving the seed in the hands of MaNiaC and DEMON D. They recruited Bradley "a Pure Gangster" Laws and Ryan "Destin" Means for MLG Orlando 2010, where they took 5th place after losing to Instinct in Winners Round 3 and Final Boss in a closely contested Losers Round 8 match. In Columbus, they again lost to Instinct, this time in Winners Round 4. They then took close matches from both Warriors and Status Quo to secure a top 3 finish, before losing 3-0 to Final Boss to end their tournament. After Columbus, MaNiaC and DEMON D recruited Eric "Snip3down" Wrona and a returning Heinz to round out the roster, with APG and Destin opting to join Dynasty. At MLG Raleigh, BtH were defeated 3-0 in the Winners Semifinals by Final Boss. They then met Triggers Down in Losers Round 8, who they were defeated 3-1 by, ending their event with a 6th place finish. After Raleigh, Heinz left and was replaced by Joseph "TiZoXiC" Capetillo. The new squad had a disappointing tournament in Washington, D.C., first being swept out of Winners Round 3 by Triggers Down, and then suffering an upset 3-1 loss to Heaven and Earth in Losers Round 6 for an 11th place finish. Despite their D.C. misfortunes, they still held enough Pro Circuit points to qualify for the Dallas National Championships as the 6th seed. Sponsored by UoR, BtH started the event off slow, losing in 3-0 fashion to Triggers Down once again. They then swept Warriors out of the tournament and came up against Status Quo in the following Losers match. The result was another 3-0 loss for BtH, who, after defeating Dynasty in consolation, closed out Halo 3 with a 5th place finish.

Halo: Reach

MaNiaC completely revamped the BtH roster going into the inaugural Halo: Reach season, recruiting three returning members in APG, Cloud and Clutch. Under the new Pool Play format for the 2011 season, BtH had a strong start, going 4-0 in their Pool at MLG Dallas. In the Winners' Semis, they were defeated by the upstart THO Impact squad, composed of three Halo: Reach phenoms and the veteran Neighbor. In Losers Round 8, BtH defeated another team composed of new talent - Soul, to secure a top 4 finish. They then swept the Warriors and looked to defeat Impact in a rematch. Unfortunately, Impact proved too much to handle and BtH were denied their first Finals appearance since the '09 Nationals. After Dallas, BtH looked to improve by replacing APG with Mason "Neighbor" Cobb from Impact. Their Pool Play fortunes were not as good in Columbus, finishing 2-2 and requiring a strong Losers Bracket run to salvage a high placing. The run was not meant to be, as they were instead defeated 3-2 by Warriors and ended up finishing 13th. After the disappointing finish, MaNiaC decided to again completely revamp the roster, dropping his three teammates and replacing them with three young stars - Matt "Formal" Piper, Chris "Blaze" Chapon and Ryan "RyaNoob" Geddes. This iteration of BtH dominated their Pool in Anaheim, dropping only a single game in the entire stage. Unfortunately, they drew the eon Instinct god-squad in the Winners Semis and were defeated 3-0 by the dominant team. In their first Losers match, they were again defeated 3-2 by the Warriors, settling for 5th place. With another event came another roster, as MaNiaC and Formal recruited Alan "Reliable" Montgomery and a returning Destin for Raleigh, with Blaze and RyaNoob leaving to form Infamous with LethuL and APG. Though they dropped 5 games this time, BtH, now sponsored by vVv Gaming, again went 4-0 in Pool Play and secured their spot in the Winners Bracket, where they defeated Status Quo 3-1. They met eon Instinct again in the Winners Finals, and nearly took the series, losing 3-2. In the Losers' Finals, BtH were defeated 3-0 by their former teammates on Infamous, ending their tournament with another 3rd place finish. Destin and Formal left BtH after Raleigh and were replaced by returning members Cloud and Snip3down. After a 3-1 Pool Play phase in Orlando, BtH were again faced with an early match against Warriors in the Losers Bracket. For the third straight time, they were defeated 3-2 by the "Heart Attack Kids", ultimately taking 11th place. With the 6th seed going into the Providence National Championships, BtH went on a strong early run, defeating Turning Point, Infamous and Fnatic Classic before finally being taken out of the Winners Bracket by Instinct in the Finals. In the Losers Finals, it was unfortunately more of the same for BtH, as they were again defeated 3-2 by Warriors, ending their season with a 3rd place finish.

After Providence, Cloud and Snip3down left and were replaced by Clutch and Joey "Twin SavioR Gargaro. BtH were defeated in the Winners Quarter-finals by Shady Halo Kids, leaving them with the tough draw of Fnatic Classic in their first Losers match. They were defeated by Fnatic 3-0, taking a top 12 finish. After MLG dropped Halo from its rotation, MaNiaC and Clutch recruited a returning Cloud and Sean "Dersky" Swidersky for AGL 2 Columbus, where they placed 4th, losing to Dynasty in the Losers Semis.

Halo 4

MaNiaC and Cloud brought BtH back for the MLG Fall Championship 2012 Halo 4 exhibition event, recruiting Tony "LethuL" Campbell and Clete "Assault" LoRusso as their teammates. They managed a top 8 placing, being eliminated by the eventual event winners - Status Quo. Later on, MaNiaC and Cloud revived BtH again, bringing back Dersky and recruiting Ian "Enable" Wyatt as their fourth for AGL 6 Pittsburgh. They took 2nd place, losing to G4C Misfits in the Finals. At AGL 7 Knoxville, MaNiaC and Cloud teamed with LethuL and Blaze, taking a top 8 finish. At UMG Chicago 2013, Furious Believe the Hype consisted of MaNiaC, Cloud, LethuL and Mason "Aries" Miller. They took a top 6 finish. For AGL 8 Knoxville, MaNiaC and Cloud recruited Assault and Paul "SnakeBite" Duarte, taking another top 8 finish. For AGL 9 Atlanta, MaNiaC and Cloud recruited Aaron "AcE" Elam and "Regicide". They took 3rd place.

Halo 2: Anniversary

The BtH name was revived by MaNiaC yet again for the ESL MCC Launch Invitational in November 2014, as he fielded a roster including returning members Formal, APG and LethuL. They took 1st place, BtH's first event win since the '09 Nationals. After the Invitational, Formal left to continue his Call of Duty career, leaving BtH to pick up Brian "Legit" Rizzo in his place for HCS Season 1. They were defeated in the Winners Semis 3-1 by Counter Logic Gaming before falling 3-2 to Cloud9 in the match for top 4, finishing 5th overall. After LethuL left to join Evil Geniuses, BtH brought Clutch back for UGC St. Louis 2015. Defeated relatively early in the Round of 32 by Noble Black, BtH faced a tough road to salvage a high placing. Though they were able to sweep their way through three rounds, their run ended with a 3-1 loss to Evil Geniuses in their match for top 8, ending their event with a top 12 finish. This would ultimately be Believe the Hype's last event, as for the first time in almost 6 years, MaNiaC would disband BtH to join a new team - Noble Black.

Halo 5: Guardians

The Believe the Hype name was briefly revived during the online qualifier stages for the Halo World Championship NA Regional Finals 2016. Founding members Cloud and Hysteria played alongside Tyler "Spartan" Ganza and Hamza "Commonly" Abaalli during the first qualifier, taking a top 32 finish. By the following week, the team - minus Hysteria, had changed its name to Leftovers.

BtH was briefly revived in Fall 2016 by Cloud and DEMON D playing alongside Nicolas "King Nick" Panzella and "Galaxy". The team competed in two Open Circuit cups, finishing in the top 16 range before splitting up.

The BtH name was resurrected again in 2017, this time by DEMON D alongside Sorrell "Sorrell" Daouphars, EM TEE KAY" and Brandon "SneakyBran" Weed. At ME Las Vegas, BtH finished in the top 20, failing to qualify for Halo World Championship 2017. Following Worlds season, BtH replaced EM TEE KAY and Sorrell with Chris "Gilkey" Gilkey and "PiLEZ". They finished in the top 16 at UMG Daytona. BtH then made another change, replacing SneakyBran with returning BtH founder Cloud. With Cloud back on board, BtH were able to qualify for the Summer 2017 Last Chance Qualifier. BtH finished in the top 6 in the LCQ, failing to qualify.